By Billy Mitchell, NFU Food Safety Training Coordinator Built on Booker T. Washington’s practice of taking educational opportunities to rural areas, designed by George Washington Carver, and financed by Morris Jesup, Jesup Wagons were “moveable schools” that delivered the university classroom experience to farmers across Alabama. Back in 1906, they were horse-drawn wagons but gradually evolved with the … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 10, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON –Due to unchecked corporate consolidation in the livestock industry, family farmers and ranchers have been subject to unfair and anticompetitive practices. But a new rule finalized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) falls short of providing meaningful protections from such practices. The … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 9, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – To strengthen its ongoing efforts to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, National Farmers Union (NFU) today announced its new Climate Change Policy Advisory Panel (CCPAP). The panel’s 16 family farmer and rancher members will inform the organization’s climate-related legislative work, educational programming, outreach, and communications. … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 9, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – In a filing submitted yesterday, the Department of Justice recommended against Supreme Court review of the Tenth Circuit Court’s ruling earlier this year that invalidated several small refinery exemptions issued by EPA under the Renewable Fuel Standard. The DOJ filing is in … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 8, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – Several media outlets today reported that President-elect Joe Biden intends to nominate Tom Vilsack to return to his previous post of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, which he held for eight years under President Barack Obama. National Farmers Union (NFU) President Rob Larew released … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 8, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – The Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy, National Corn Growers Association, National Biodiesel Board, American Coalition for Ethanol, and National Farmers Union today filed a brief challenging EPA’s August 2019 decision to exempt 31 small refineries from their obligations to comply with the Renewable … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 3, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – Georgia Representative David Scott was selected today by his fellow House Democrats to lead the House Agriculture Committee as its next chairman. Scott, the first Black legislator to hold the position, will be joined by Pennsylvania Representative Glenn Thompson, who was elected to … Read More
By Melanie Arthur, NFU Intern Pre-pandemic, you needed a few essential things to host an on-farm tour or educational event. First, a place for people to park. Second, some hot coffee brewing. And, finally, a good story to tell and a megaphone to carry your voice across the farm and to your attendees. Now, with trucks staying parked at home and farmers getting their coffee refills at home, farm … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 1, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – Though there is a long, rich history of Black farmers in the United States, systemic racism has undermined their success and wrested the majority of their land away. In order to correct racial inequities in agricultural policies and institutions, Senators Cory Booker, Elizabeth … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 30, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – With just hours until the statutory deadline, the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has still not issued its 2021 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), raising concerns that the RVOs will not be updated until the next administration takes … Read More
By Jeanne Janson, NFU Journalism Intern The last 400 years of Native American history is marred with stories of land being stolen, children being forced into boarding schools and a crusade for assimilation through the erasure of culture. One result of this traumatic history is an entrenched cycle of poverty that persists on many reservations … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 23, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – Today, a coalition of the nation’s largest biofuels and agricultural trade groups filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia asking the court to enforce its 2017 decision requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address its improper … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 18, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – For every dollar Americans spend on their Thanksgiving dinner this year, farmers and ranchers will earn approximately 11.9 cents, according to National Farmers Union (NFU). This marks a slight decline from 2019, when farmers claimed 12.15 cents of the Thanksgiving food dollar. Though … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 17, 2020 WASHINGTON – An alliance of groups representing farmers, forest owners, the food sector, state governments and environmental advocates today unveiled an unprecedented set of recommendations to guide the development of federal climate policy. The Food and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) was formed in February 2020 by four groups that … Read More
By Billy Mitchell, NFU FSMA Training Coordinator Over the years, the picture of a farmer and farm service provider working together has often looked the same – two people, sometimes with paperwork sprawled across a tailgate, looking out over rows and rows of a crop surrounded by farmland stretched to the horizon. It’s a classic … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 7, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – After several days of ballot counting and much anticipation, the Associated Press announced that former Vice President Joe Biden had won the 2020 U.S. presidential election. National Farmers Union (NFU) President Rob Larew issued the following statement in response to the news: “The … Read More
By Tracy Heim, NFU Intern As fall transitions to winter, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing their New Era of Smarter Food Safety Blueprint implementation. On October 26, the FDA hosted a webinar that gave an inside look at the progress made in the first 100 days since the Blueprint announcement in July. … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 4, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – The United States today formally exited the Paris Climate Agreement, three-and-a-half years after President Donald Trump pledged to do so, citing “lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.” One hundred and eighty-nine countries have ratified the historic agreement so … Read More
By Billy Mitchell, FSMA Training Coordinator Like a moth to a glowing jack-o’-lantern, you may be drawn towards towering shelves of mass-produced candy this Halloween season and tricked into thinking that local treats are a thing of the past. Do not be scared: farm-made, value-added products are alive and well in 2020. The old classics, … Read More
By Jeanne Janson, NFU Journalism Intern From mid-August through the end of September, Megan Brown spent countless hours fireproofing the livestock enclosures at her family’s ranch in Northern California and preparing to evacuate should the LNU Lightning Complex Fire—the third most destructive in the state’s history—get too close. Unfortunately, this has become a sort of … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 21, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – As part of its ongoing efforts to support the next generation of American agriculture, National Farmers Union (NFU) today announced that fourteen participants had been selected for its tenth Beginning Farmer Institute (BFI) cohort. Over the course of ten months, these beginning … Read More
By Melanie Arthur, NFU Intern “Parking lot, go ahead and blow your horns. Let everybody know that you are here!” food safety trainer and technical service provider Darrell McGuire shouted at the crowd. Alabama farmers and ranchers – who had drove their vehicles up to the Bethel Spring Missionary Baptist Church to hear speakers present … Read More
By Tracy Heim, NFU Intern On the second Monday of every October, Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated across the United States to honor the original inhabitants of the Americas. On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, National Farmers Union (NFU) celebrates the invaluable contributions of Native Americans and the Indigenous origins of many practices currently used in … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 8, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, 303-819-8737 [email protected] WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today released a final rule detailing updates to its Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) as directed by the 2018 Farm Bill. In comparison to the interim rule, the final version places a greater emphasis on soil health – … Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEOctober 6, 2020 Contact: Hannah Packman, [email protected] Though millions of Americans are enduring unemployment, food insecurity, the possibility of eviction, and other hardships because of the pandemic, President Donald Trump today indicated that he would not consider another stimulus package until after the election. Out of concern for hungry Americans, struggling rural communities, … Read More